Just fitted powerflex arb bushes and...

[sinnie92]

Think I have a case of 'polyplacebo- New oem would have sufficed' syndrome. no major handling improvment, and I'm scared the car will try and kill me if I go for a spirited drive. I don't know if its me being over suspect but I'm sure its a tad understeery and skittish now or maybe roads are not overly grippy tonight. Paranoid, or should I buy some rubbers and prepare for more ball ache swapping back?

 

[MG cup]

Flol Hahahaha , it ain't no handling improvement pal, it stops engine movement and allows better feeling gear changes and smoother going on and off accelerator. If you fit a dog bone and your daily commute time comes down by five minutes then its definitely a "placebo"

 

[bozothenutter]

almost right swede...he said ARB bushes......:evil:

 

[MartinR]

Was it fun changing the inner ones? i will never be doing those again

 

[MG cup]

Lol, reading fail....same applies.

 

[bozothenutter]

but seriously, could a set of arb bushes cause understeer?

i was thinking about doing mine when I eventually fit my wishbones....

 

[s0fty]

Are you sure there the correct size they do two diff sizes and they need to be tight over the arb. I have a full set on and its stiffer than the oem arb bushes.

 

[MG cup]

If you can tell you have powerflex ARB bushes fitted your doing well, lets just say that. They don't have a big affect on a Clio, other styles of suspension where the ARB works as a track control link then yes.

 

[DaveDreads]

The only reason I fitted powerflex arb bushes was because the subframe was coming off for something else,
so it seemed like a good idea to upgrade while it was sat there on the floor.

No real change in the car at all, but then I wasn't expecting any as they're only arb bushes,
the engine mounts and dogbone made the biggest difference.

 

[bozothenutter]

basically stiffer ARB bushes mean removing play from the ARB system doesn't it....the ultimate being sperical bearings to link the arb to the suspension.

 

[MG cup]

Its directly attached to the wishbone anyways, no need on a Clio other than they won't perish IMO, don't get me wrong I have them fitted too.

 

[sinnie92]

I fitted them on my 4 poster, wheels on the deck so the arb was unsprung which was nice. the only pita bit was getting the inner clamps around the new bushes, crowbar, block of wood and a pair of hands helped no end. But I definitely would not diminish the fact these are a royal pain. If I was to test out increasing rear tyre pressure, could that improve the understeer situ or would the car just start sliding wide?

 

[sinnie92]

Also as a guess to the theory behind it, the bound loaded wheel would create torsion through the bar to be displaced the other side to correct the rebounding wheel, the rubber bush would deflect somewhat, allowing load transfer to be progressive not instant, and that deflection may be Renaults intended dynamics in the susp geometry. ?

 

[MG cup]

Yeah my pals do it on their race minis, ao48r's around 50psi hot believe it or not to make it skittish. You live in Isle of Wight, no circuits! Do you plan on viewing the scenery? Lol

 

[sinnie92]

You got it down to a tee, I moan about my car, enjoy watching yaughts and protest against wind turbines........

 

[MG cup]

Lol I meant to be trying eh 'experimental' things on your car to get the tail out when it's a road car. Car meet scenery, you get me?

 

[sinnie92]

Oh I get it now haha! Well I can assure you that because of a previous, encounter with some rather solid organic matter that was by the road I will be avoiding any funky handling at all costs, might try 30/31.

If you ever fancy viewing some scenery yourself swede, I can tell you first hand that a nice birch makes for an excellent mandrel if you hit it hard enough